Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott

recognizing defeat when she heard it, and Estel looked at Faar.
    “You heard Cassia. Does that suit you?”
    Faar nodded slowly. “Yes. And thank you.”
    “ It’s our duty,” Estel said. She pushed herself to her feet. “That settles it, then. Cassia, you’ll make the loan. Besetje, you’ll take over the maintenance payments—when?”
    “ No later than midday of the Horse,” Besetje answered promptly.
    “ Agreed,” Estel said. “Idomey, unless you have anything more to say—”
    The other woman shook her head.
    “Then you can leave us to our suppers and not trouble honest women further. Nelis, Rathe, thank you for being here.”
    It was clear dismissal, and Rathe made a sketchy bow. “No trouble, Estel.”
     
    Rathe made his way back through the emptying streets in a skeptical frame of mind. Estel had stage-managed the affair very cleverly, but he doubted she had done more than defer the problem. Idomey was bound to try again. That meant he owed Monteia a warning letter, since Hopes currently had jurisdiction over the ’Serry, and he should also ask Claes to keep an eye on Besetje, for her own sake—though probably it would be better not to involve Fairs’ Point if he could help it. Claes had too much on his book with the races, and Voillemin would be glad to cause the girl trouble if he knew Rathe stood patron to her. A quick note to Monteia, then, he thought, and let himself in the courtyard gate.
    Sunflower was asleep in his basket and Eslingen was sitting at the table, a sheaf of broadsheets discarded beside him, studying a thick pamphlet by the light of Rathe’s best lamp. They both looked up as the door opened; Sunflower dropped his head with a sigh, but Eslingen tipped his to one side, the movement so dog-like that Rathe couldn’t help a grin.
    “Went well, did it?” Eslingen closed the pamphlet before Rathe could get a good look at the title page, turned it upside down. He could see the broadsheets, though, headlines proclaiming the advent of the new Guard, and in spite of himself his mouth tightened. But that was only to be expected, the broadsheet writers weren’t going to ignore such a promising topic even in race season. It was not something he wanted to discuss tonight.
    “ I suppose.” There was the end of a loaf on the shelf beside a well-wrapped wedge of cheese. Rathe cut himself some of each and came to join his leman, who pushed the wine jug across the table to him. A second cup stood ready, and Rathe poured himself some, topping up Eslingen’s cup as well. “I don’t think it’s settled, not by a long shot, but at least there’s something of a truce.”
    “ I’d count that progress,” Eslingen said.
    “ Yes, well. Depends how long it lasts.” Rathe drained his cup faster than he’d meant. “And you?”
    “ DeVoss doesn’t run maidens,” Eslingen answered, “but she says her assistants do. I’m to take Sunflower to them tomorrow to see if any of them will take him on.”
    “ So that’s why you’re studying.”
    Eslingen looked confused, and Rathe reached across to tap the pamphlet.
    “DeVoss is honest, she won’t let her people cheat you.”
    “ It’s not that,” Eslingen said. “I just—I wanted to learn the language.”
    Rathe nodded, his mouth full of bread and cheese, and E slingen looked thoughtfully at the pamphlet.
    “ This is your missing man, isn’t it? This Beier.”
    Rathe nodded again.
    “The printers at the Pantheon were in a bit of a taking about it,” Eslingen said. “Apparently someone tried to put out a sheet in his style under his name, but it was spotted right away.”
    “ He has a unique talent,” Rathe said.
    Eslingen turned over the pamphlet. “ An Explanation of the Simplest Points of Veterinary and Non-Veterinary Horoscopes, Written for the Ignorant and Vicious, in Vain Hope of Amendment . He didn’t pander to his readers, did he?”
    Rathe grinned in spite of himself. “Not much, no.”
    “ Seems to me the real mystery